Are You Analyzing Your KPIs Regularly?

Analytic tools make it easy for you to monitor a wide range of metrics related to the performance of your site. But if you want to get a true sense for how well you are doing, you need to know which metrics are the key performance indicators. Some numbers speak volumes, and others are relatively irrelevant. Pay close attention to the following…

Bounce Rate

A “bounce” is when a visitor visits only one page on your site before leaving. When someone bounces off your site like this, it indicates that they haven’t found the information they were looking for, or the page they visited was not engaging enough to hold their attention. If your bounce rate it too high, put yourself in the mind of visitors that made it to your site and then decided to leave.

Conversion

Anytime a visitor takes measurable action – buying a product, filling out a form, clicking a banner – it’s called a conversion. Your goal is to “convert” as much of your traffic as you possibly can. Set goals for conversions in advance to help you gauge how well you are doing.

Traffic Sources

This analytic tells you where your visitors are coming from. This is a key performance indicator because it reveals which sources are driving traffic, making it easy to focus your efforts on the ones that are most productive.

Content

Tracking what content on your site is most frequently viewed by visitors, and viewed for the longest amount of time, gives you valuable insight into what your audience is most interested in. That helps you to refine your content strategy and better tailor your offerings to your target audience.

Social Reports

Similar to traffic sources but with a focus on social media, these reports are important for web analytics because they help you gauge the impact of your social media campaigns. When analyzing this metric, don’t just look at the posts that drove the most traffic, look at the date of the post too. If a month old post is still converting visitors, it has clearly had a major impact.

Percentage of New Visitors

It’s extremely important to know what percentage of your traffic is from first-time visitors. If you experience a spike in the percentage, it means you are effectively speaking to a new audience. But if the number is too high, it suggests that people are visiting once and never returning.

Landing and Exit Pages

Looking at web analytics related to landing pages and exit pages can give you a surprisingly refined look at how your visitors navigate your site. Analyzing this data carefully can reveal which pages are working, which are not, and if your visitors are following the path you predicted when you first designed the site.

Key Performance Indicators are All about Getting Better

No matter which of these key performance indicators you choose to focus on, remember each one suggests ways you could be doing things better. No matter how positive the numbers are, resist the urge to pat yourself on the back.

Use this as an opportunity to further refine your web presence to meet the needs of your present and future traffic. If you need help turning web analytics into increased visits, work with the specialists at Studio C5.

Request a free digital marketing consultation.